Chapter 2 - THE MAN WHO DIED FOUR YEARS AGO
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The photograph was grainy.
Old.
Taken from a distance.
But there was no mistaking him.
Adrian.
Alive.
Standing outside a warehouse with one hand pressed against his ribs.
Beside him was another man.
My father.
I hadn't seen that face in fourteen years.
Because my father was supposedly buried in a private cemetery outside Naperville.
I stared at the image.
“Who brought this?”
My head of security, Marcus Hale, looked uneasy.
“The driver refuses to speak.”
“Bring him inside.”
Marcus hesitated.
“Boss…”
“Now.”
Three minutes later, the man was escorted into my study.
He appeared to be in his late sixties.
Rainwater ran from the brim of his hat.
He removed it slowly.
Then he looked straight at me.
“You have your mother's eyes.”
I reached for my pistol.
He didn't flinch.
“Who are you?”
“Samuel Voss.”
The name meant nothing.
Then he added:
“I worked for your father.”
I lowered the weapon by an inch.
“What father?”
He smiled without humor.
“The one who didn't die.”
Silence.
Elena grabbed Chloe's hand.
Samuel noticed the child.
His expression changed.
“So it's true.”
“What?”
“Adrian had a daughter.”
My heart slammed against my ribs.
I stepped toward him.
“You knew?”
“I helped him disappear.”
“Why?”
Samuel looked at Elena.
“Because Adrian discovered what your father had been doing.”
“My father was a criminal.”
“No.”
Samuel's voice became almost a whisper.
“He was building a private government.”
I laughed once.
“That's impossible.”
“He owned judges. Police captains. Port authorities. Unions. Half the men in city hall owed him something.”
“He was a syndicate boss.”
“He was more than that.”
Samuel put a flash drive on the desk.
“Your father wasn't trying to control Chicago.”
“What was he trying to control?”
“The succession.”
I stared at him.
“What succession?”
Samuel looked at Chloe.
“Your bloodline.”
The room went still.
“Why would my father care about a four-year-old?”
“Because your family has an old rule.”
I said nothing.
“The firstborn Thorne heir inherits everything.”
I almost smiled.
“My father broke every rule he ever had.”
“Not this one.”
Samuel opened his briefcase.
Inside was a document bearing the old Thorne crest.
At the bottom were three names.
Vincent Thorne.
Adrian Thorne.
Chloe Thorne.
I felt the air leave the room.
“That's impossible.”
Samuel pointed at the date.
The document had been filed six days before Adrian disappeared.
“Elena wasn't just your brother's girlfriend.”
I turned toward her.
“She was his wife.”
Elena's eyes filled with tears.
“We were married in a courthouse outside Gary.”
“Why hide it?”
“Because your father found out.”
I looked at Chloe.
“Does she know who she is?”
Elena shook her head.
“She knows Adrian is her father. That's all.”
Samuel leaned forward.
“Your father wanted Chloe.”
“Why?”
“To use her.”
“For what?”
“To force Adrian back.”
A metallic crack suddenly sounded outside.
Then another.
Gunfire.
Marcus shouted through the radio.
“North perimeter breached!”
The study lights flickered.
Samuel grabbed my arm.
“They're here.”
“Who?”
He looked at Chloe.
“The men who have been hunting this child since she was born.”
I drew my weapon.
“Bellinis?”
Samuel shook his head.
“Worse.”
He looked toward the darkness beyond the windows.
“Thornes.”
My stomach dropped.
Because according to every record I had ever seen—
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There was only one surviving Thorne patriarch.
Me.
